Homemade Clock Causes Teen Arrest

NADIA GOV
Staff Writer

On Sept. 21, 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed arrived at his high school in Texas with a homemade clock he wanted to show his teacher. Rather than receiving praise for his efforts, Mohamed faced arrest when the clock made from a pencil case and wires was suspected of being a bomb. According to The Washington Post, the clock was confiscated in Mohamed’s English class when the teacher was irritated by its beeping and told Mohamed it looked like a bomb.
Mohamed was then interrogated and detained by five police officers before being taken to the police station.

“I think the authorities were being abrasive. [Being a Muslim,] I feel like I can relate to him [because] when I was in the fifth and sixth grade, I also dealt with judgemental comments due to my religion,” said senior Jannatin Nisha.

In light of the situation, Mohamed and his dreams of being an engineer and attending the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have received a large amount of support on social media websites. As many believe the incident was the result of ethnic profiling, the school’s Facebook page filled with harsh criticism of how the Mohamed was treated and #IStandWithAhmed trended worldwide on Twitter. Celebrities such as President Obama and Mark Zuckerberg have also taken notice of teenager, who was invited to visit the White House and Facebook headquarters.